News

2 July 2015

Record number of students studying a substantial amount of their course through the medium of Welsh

2 July 2015

The Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol’s investment in specific areas has resulted in an increase again in the number of students who study part of their degree course through the medium of Welsh in universities in Wales.

Latest data show that the number of students studying at least 40 credits every year – that is the equivalent to one-third of their course - through the medium of Welsh in higher education institutions has increased from 2,343 to 2,427 between 2012/13 and 2013/14 - an increase of 10% over two years and represents a record number of students studying at least 40 credits in Welsh.

In addition, the number of students who study at least 5 credits every year through the medium of Welsh has increased from 4865 to 4915. Again, this is an increase of approximately 10% over two years.

Key to this is the increase seen in the number of students studying in particular in subjects where the Coleg has made a significant investment through its academic staffing scheme - for example in the field of Business, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Psychology.

Dafydd Trystan the Coleg Registrar commented: "It is very encouraging to see the latest figures here which clearly shows us that our investment through the Academic Staffing Scheme is working. Since the Coleg’s first operational year in 2011/12, a significant increase can be seen in the number of students who choose to study part of their degree course through the medium Welsh and the national picture is very positive.

"Across the country there are specific examples of growth in areas where the Coleg has invested and the individual universities have developed their provision. From Psychology at Bangor University to Business Studies at the universities in the south east; Biological and Environmental Sciences of the University of Aberystwyth to Geography at Swansea University. Our partnership with the Welsh higher education institutes is a positive one and we are confident that we will see a greater increase again in the coming years due to the Coleg’s investment."